Maccabi Tel-Aviv - BC Olympiakos Piraeus predictions and free betting tips [14/11/2023]

In the second match of the regular season game day of the men's Euroleague basketball, Israeli "Maccabi Tel Aviv" will host Greek "Olympiacos" on neutral ground.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Last season, "Maccabi" finished the regular season at a surprisingly high fifth place with a trio of performers - Lorenzo Brown, Wayne Baldwin, and Bonzie Colson and they lost to "Monaco" only in the fifth game of playoffs. With the exception of the big departure of Darran Hilliard, the off-season was completely calm: in Tel Aviv, they thought that this time they were able to assemble a capable crew to be preserved and put in optimal conditions for the championships. In saying that reinforcement is a mandatory condition for progress, "Maccabi" is waiting again for Brown and Baldwin to show themselves as the best pair of little ones in the Euroleague (two places in the symbolic fives last year). They started with a confident home victory over "Partizan" (96:81).

However, in the second round "Maccabi" unexpectedly lost away to "Valencia." In the next away game, the team from Tel Aviv managed to get a hard-won victory in overtime against "Panathinaikos" (81:86). The next round ended with a crushing defeat from "Monaco" (107:79). After that, the team has not lost yet. Victories over Italian "Olympia" (90:98) and "Bayern" (93:90) helped the Israelis rise to 7th place in the overall table. Taking into account that "Maccabi" plays home matches on a neutral arena, due to the political situation in the country, this is a very decent result. The factor of the "yellow sea" is significant for the team, and if they can go the distance of the regular season without major losses, such a result would be respected.

Olympiacos

There were quite a few changes in the Greek club this off-season. Aleksandar Vezenkov has finally gone to conquer the NBA, and Kostas Slukas has strengthened the main competitor of the Piraeus - "Panathinaikos". They were replaced by CSKA's Nikola Milutinov and "Zalgiris'" Ignas Brazdeikis. A successful performance in the tournament in the past season was made possible by the lack of serious competition in the national championship. "Panathinaikos" could not withstand the competition with the club from the city of Piraeus and practically gave away the final series without a fight. This allowed "Olympiacos" to focus on the European tournament. In the current Euroleague draw, the Greeks started the match just against "Panathinaikos", having scored a hard-fought victory in overtime (78:88).

In the next two encounters, the team unexpectedly lost to "Barcelona" (68:77) and Italian "Olympia" (65:53). In the fourth round, Georgios Bartzokas's charges confidently defeated the Turkish "Efes" (75:57). They couldn't consolidate success and tilt the balance of victories and losses towards the first indicator: in a dramatic endgame against "Fenerbahce", the Greeks lost with a score (79:77). Last week, "Olympiacos" lost again: in a dramatic end in Piraeus, "Baskonia" turned out to be stronger. Currently, just like the Lithuanian "Zalgiris", "Olympiacos" is on the verge of the playoff zone, with 3 victories in six matches under its belt.

Head-to-head

In the last season in both matches, the Greek club won (95:89; 68:71).

Prediction for the match

"Olympiacos" has been tuning their defense in recent matches and has not allowed opponents to approach the 80-point mark for 5 matches. However, "Maccabi" is playing very efficiently this season and in this match, in my opinion, the optimal option for a bet would be a total over of 157.5 points.